FanPost

How will the Vikings get on this year?

Well, well, well.

Please indulge me for a few minutes.

A month and a half ago I wrote on here about how supporting the Vikings just seemed to fit for me. As an English football fan all too familiar with the crushing disappointment of those sporting ‘almost’ moments, I have pretty much settled into the bizarrely comforting state of distress at the end of a season across both sports – (the correctly named) football and (the incorrectly named) football.

That is until last night.

In case you’re not aware, we are now at the sharp end of the European Football Championships. Since mid-June the great, the good, and North Macedonia have been competing for the trophy (the European equivalent of the World Cup) and now only two teams remain. And one of them is England, managed by the incredible Gareth Southgate, after beating Denmark in the Semi-Finals (or the Schhemi Finalssh in Danish).

This is an England team who have never before reached the final of, let alone won this competition.

An England team who have never reached the final of a major tournament since our only World Cup victory all the way back in 1966.

Against an Italian side who are unbeaten in 33 games, having last lost in September 2018.

It feels strange, surreal, unnerving to wake up knowing you are now within touching distance of something truly historical, a sporting achievement that will live on forever in the (correctly named) football-obsessed nation of England. It is impossible to overstate just how important a win would be to this country.

I admit to, and previously wrote about gaining a certain level of comfort from losing, welcoming that old friend; the gut punch of hurt, exhaustion and ultimately regret. It’s familiar, very familiar, so you have to learn to embrace it out of necessity.

But comfort in losing isn’t right, is it? It can’t be. There’s a real swagger and confidence in this young England team, often referred to as not being burdened by a long and gruelling history of heartbreaking, infuriating and frequently humiliating underachieving from the national team. But, in reality, that attitude of conviction in their own ability and trust in each other is built off the back of big wins, against big teams, in big games, such as the win last week against England’s old foes Germany to reach the quarter finals.

It’s an enormous, historic rivalry in international sport, think Frazier vs Ali, Red Sox vs Yankees, Aaron Rodgers vs The Entire Packers Organisation. It’s also a rivalry that England have frequently come out the wrong side of.

This brings me to the desire, or lack thereof, of fans to see their teams face the big teams. As the old, somewhat tired mantra goes, to be the best, you have to beat the best. As much as it sounds like something you’d hear in a bad movie, or out of the large mouth of the insufferable tit in a visor over in Oakland, sorry, Las Vegas, it does ring true. Due to a strange quirk (although more accurately described as a combination of reliably bad planning and a typical incomprehension of the nature of competition from UEFA), had England actually lost their last group game earlier in the competition, they would have finished lower in their group and faced easier opposition in the first round of knockout games. A large swathe of England fans were nervous about the possibility of facing France/Germany/Portugal and so would have happily thrown away a point or two. But, like Jon Gruden after his first weekend in Vegas, this sent itches down every part of my body. The desire to face worse competition and essentially secure back-door progression in any tournament is completely at odds with the nature of competitive sports. Why devalue your own hard-fought glory, or give people the chance to place an asterisk next to your achievements?

When I was young, I was what can only be described as an average swimmer (breast stroke, if you must know. And no, that’s not another Gruden in Vegas gag). Nevertheless, I entered a race at a holiday park. As I sat in the pool, treading water, the realisation slowly dawned on me that no one else had bothered to turn up to compete. Possibly due to feeling intimidated, but that doesn’t seem any more likely now than it did back then. After turning down the frankly insulting opportunity to swim the race on my own, I was handed a 1st place certificate as I left the empty pool. If I’m honest I’ve never counted that towards a list of achievements in my life.

And, as mentioned, England went on to beat the better opponent, Germany (did I mention that? That we beat Germany?) and that victory has produced in the team, and the country, a vigour and confidence I haven’t seen in my lifetime. I wasn’t born in 1966, and my Dad was only 9, so he can recall about as much of that World Cup as Jon Gruden can his first weekend in Ve…, yeah, you get the point.

But of course, this is a Vikings fansite and if you have got this far then I applaud you. This is essentially a vanity post.

But I have noticed some comparisons between what is currently happening and the Vikings (and not just because I needed to in order to justify posting this on here).

Both England and the Vikings have a young and seemingly hungry team. Keen to prove themselves, build their destiny and write their own stories into the history books.

Both England and the Vikings have an emphasis on defense. England hadn’t conceded any goals so far in the competition until last night when Denmark scored just one. I’m very excited to see the current Vikings D on the field this year. If we manage to get Pierce, Tomlinson and Richardson on the field at the same time, that will be over 400kg combined stood across from (what I assume will be a very concerned-looking) O-Line. Would you want what themeasureofthings.com describes as "about nine-tenths as heavy as a Grand Piano" charging at you while you were trying to do your job? Unless, of course, you work for a piano moving company.

There seems to be a healthy dose of ‘togetherness’ in Minnesota too (Hi Bye Stefon), something which has also helped the England team thrive and should propel these Vikings into good enough stead to have a decent run at the division this year.

Granted, they’re only half-decent comparisons.

But the main point really is to consider allowing ourselves a chance at positive thinking and I hope the team embraces it too. It’s proven to build confidence. The games I’m looking forward to most this year are when we face the Seahawks, the 49ers, the Steelers and that team Jordan Love plays for. I want to play against the big teams, the best teams, and the Packers, because you can’t hide behind a good-looking record and keep coming unstuck when the real moments present themselves. We’ve been doing that the past few seasons and it has led to being stuck somewhere in the middle of a franchise-altering draft pick and actual success. Limbo.

I know, I know, the higher you build up your expectations means the further you fall if they come up short. But you can’t really trick yourself into believing that if you think positive and are confident about a game, it will be worse when we lose, because let’s be honest, on the flipside is it really any less heart breaking when we lose a game we didn’t think we’d win?

I’m feeling really good about the Vikings this year, and that statement will probably age about as well as Jon Gruden, but if England can reach the final of a major competition, and beat Germany on the way (yeah, we beat Germany) – something I thought it was possible I would never see in my lifetime – then I don’t think it’s outrageous to suggest that similar success is achievable for the purple and gold.

If you made it to the end of this post, congratulations.

If you just skipped straight down to here, you’ve missed some absolute zingers aimed at Jon Gruden and an anecdote about me swimming as a child. Your loss.

What do you think are our chances this year?

(It’s Coming Home!)

This FanPost was created by a registered user of The Daily Norseman, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the site. However, since this is a community, that view is no less important.